[Community_garden] Locking garden gates?

[William Hohauser]

No, a vote is taken after the issues are discussed in an open forum.  
Our garden operates like this and the discussions/debates get quite  
lively. Most of the time the decisions made have been very good for  
the garden as a whole. In community gardens, garden members must feel  
free to propose ideas and changes to the garden at meetings. Meetings  
should happen on a regular basis, monthly or bi-monthly depending on  
the garden's size. And a member's vote should count!

As elected president of a garden, I get a lot of ideas and suggestions  
from members on how the garden should operate. As president I can't  
impose these suggestions no matter how much I agree with them. My  
method is to have the person personally bring it up at a meeting or  
present it to me in a written statement so as president I can present  
the idea as they have it. If the idea is good, it usually moves  
forward in some way. If the idea is daft, usually the person  
suggesting it will not even bring it to a meeting. If they do the idea  
is almost always voted down.

A group is a group. Group decisions can be horrible at times. This  
country is occasionally a very good example of that. Individuals get  
tromped on by groups all the time. But sometimes an individual isn't  
acting in anyone's interest just their own self-interest. Sometimes  
the "other side" is right but the "group" has collectively made a  
mistake. The mistake can be fixed but the other side must approach the  
problem with a collective spirit of trust and hope not a combative  
spirit of war. War isn't necessary among a family.

What a community garden can do is show that a full democracy can work  
in the long run.

William Hohauser
Sixth Street and Avenue B Garden

On Jul 24, 2008, at 4:51 PM, Diana Liu wrote:

> So, who is in "the group" and "the other side"?  So is true  
> "democracy" in effect when "the group" as whole agree single- 
> mindedly without taking into any consideration of "the other side"?
>
> William Hohauser <williamhohauser at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Democracy is democracy. If the decision has been made by the group as
> a whole then individuals or factions have little to say except to try
> and state their case at a later date or leave the garden and find
> another place that fits their needs better. It's that simple. There
> are gardens that have a board of directors or other methods of self-
> government but only a straight single vote democracy can keep the
> garden stable for the long term.
>
> If the garden has voted for locks then the other side must abide by
> it. If the locks turn out to be a bad decision then the other side can
> show why locks are no good and the garden can vote again. Who knows,
> the vote might go their way.
>
>
>
> > "Any thoughts on how to handle it when one "faction" gets its way
> > and really
> > doesn't feel like listening to the "other side", such as an
> > individual or
> > "counterfaction", who persistently keeps raising questions,
> > alternatives and
> > objections even after a decision has been made?"
> >
>
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> Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
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>                                    - Lao Tzu
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